Law Enforcement in Rastatt, Germany have arrested three people suspected of distributing vast quantities of drugs through a dark web market.
The three suspects were arrested after law enforcement conducted an eight-month investigation into a dark web vendor account by the Offenburg police and the Baden Baden public prosecutor’s office. During the arrest, investigators seized huge quantities of opium, cannabis and other drugs with a street value of 150,000 euros.
German Law Enforcement were investigating the administrator of Dark Market when they paid attention to a specific vendor account. Law Enforcement investigators knew the Dark Web vendor operated out of Rastatt. As the investigation started, Law Enforcement in Offenburg built a case against the alleged operators of the vendor account. Law Enforcement profiled packages and compiled shipping information. This eventually resulted in many successful package interceptions by German law enforcement. Information obtained from the intercepted packages helped german law enforcement identify one of the suspects in custody.
On March 11, 2021, Offenburg police raided a residence in Rastatt. The raid by the police lead to the seizure of:
- 30 kg of cannabis;
- 1.7 kg of opium;
- 124 grams of cocaine;
- and MDMA.
Offenburg Police raid
The police also found and seized large quantities of packaging and mailing materials, vacuum sealers, electronic devices, weighing scales, and a written record of orders processed by the vendor.
Police destroyed a cannabis growing operation found at the house and seized several live Cannabis plants. Two suspects fled the house when the police entered. The suspects who fled the house, a 26 year old and a 29 year old, were later arrested. They allegedly masterminded the drug trafficking operation. Both suspects had prior convictions and both suspects were placed in pre-trial detention.
The third suspect, was a 56 year old man, who acted as assistants to the other suspects. He helped in processing the drug orders and they used his apartment as the center of the drug trafficking operation. He was charged with aiding and abetting.
The 56 year old suspect cooperated with the Offenburg police and confessed to his role in the operation.